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The tax — established in 1956 to fund the construction of the Interstate Highway System — has remained unchanged for nearly 20 years, and bumping the 18.4-cents-per-gallon rate hasn’t gained much traction in Congress or at the White House. But as a revenue-raiser independent of income tax rates, it appears the gas tax is still on the table.

Senior transportation lawmakers in both parties have refused to rule out changes to the fee, although ultimately much of any “grand bargain” package of spending cuts and new revenues will be up to President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Their aides declined to answer questions about the gas tax. In the past, Boehner has preferred to tie increased energy production to infrastructure, a route unlikely to provide enough money to tackle the long-term Highway Trust Fund shortfalls, which reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few decades.

Cars are more fuel efficient than ever, Americans are driving less and the long-stalled rate was never pegged to inflation, factors that translate to fewer dollars to repair an American infrastructure system whose needs eclipse spending by $2 trillion, according to some estimates. In the interim, Congress has shifted around billions of dollars to make up for funding shortfalls each year — with the Congressional Budget Office predicting only a bleaker picture in the future.

Among lawmakers interviewed by POLITICO on the issue, the two most open to examining such a tax are incoming House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). Neither is exactly cheering a rise in the user fee — but both men have been given several opportunities to shoot it down and have declined to do so.

“You’ve got to look at all your options out there. Is it something difficult? Sure. But I think it’s one of those things we need to look at while running through these negotiations,” Shuster said during a pen and pad with reporters after officially winning the chairmanship.

After reading about Shuster’s openness, Rahall’s press office put out a release praising the new chairman and contrasting his approach to that of Boehner, whose office blasted Rahall for floating such an increase in 2011. One of the longest-serving members of the House, Rahall told POLITICO it was “encouraging” to hear Shuster’s stance.

“I don’t rule it out of play,” Rahall said of the tax. “We can’t go into these negotiations saying, ‘What’s off the table?’”